I hope I didn’t brain my damage!
Posted on July 10, 2007 - Filed Under Health |
At work I have been in charge of editing some educational materials on the brain: how it works and what happens when something goes wrong. I must admit it can be pretty disturbing to learn about how our body, and in this case, brain, is developed and works on a daily basis. The complex innerworkings, not too mention numerous medical definitions I had to look up in the dictionary, have been enlightening.
Our brain has predisposed genetic hardwiring that must be performed correctly at the fetal development stage or we may have problems later in life while our brain’s softwiring can be altered depending on our perceive life experiences through the limbic system: the structures in the human brain involved in emotion, motivation, and emotional association with memory.
With all of this newly learned information I wanted to come up with ways that I could keep myself mentally sharp for years to come and I thought a few others might like to try the same thing.
First and foremost I do yoga, and according to this great article in Prevention, yoga can definitely slow aging and mental decline by keeping the hormone cortisol at normal levels, which is crucial for stress relief.
Next, I have been taking a regular multi-vitamin every day for a few years now. Even Whole Foods has some great ones that are food-based, the best kind, and even vegetarian options.
Another good food choice is to use flax seed oil in salad dressings, yogurt, or anything you can drizzle it on without heating it up. This super food does everything from lowering cholesterol to improving your eyesight and perception of colors. Also worthy of noting, flax seed oil had omega-3s which are vital to healthy brain function. I found a great vegetarian one (DHA: derived from algae) from Spectrum that I really like.
And one last tidbit that everyone knows, but still does not do is to drink, drink, drink, lots of water. In keeping with living green, I have my water bottle I got at REI that I take with me everywhere and always have filled with water. The ones with the actual measurements in ounces on the side of the bottle are the best so you can actually track how much water you are drinking.
I hope these tips help and I would love to hear any other ways that people keep their bodies and minds fit.
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The Society for Neuroscience (SFN) has some really good info on the latest neurological research here: http://www.sfn.org/index.cfm?pagename=brainBriefings_main